Swale is a local government district in Kent, England. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The borough is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the district.
The Roman Watling Street passed through the area, as witness the straightness of the A2 main road, now by-passed by the motorway M2. Apart from northern coast of the Isle of Sheppey, and the immediate areas around the towns, it is a mainly rural borough.
There are three towns in the borough: Sittingbourne and Faversham on the mainland; Sheerness on the Isle. In addition local government is carried out by the following parish councils:
- Badlesmere
- Bapchild
- Bobbing
- Borden
- Boughton-under-Blean
- Bredgar
- Doddington
- Dunkirk
- Eastchurch
- Eastling
- Faversham Without
- Goodnestone
- Graveney
- Hartlip
- Hernhill
- Iwade
- Leaveland
- Leysdown
- Lower Halstow
- Lynsted
- Milstead
- Minster-on-Sea
- Newington
- Newnham
- Norton Buckland & Stone
- Oare
- Ospringe
- Queenborough
- Rodmersham
- Rushenden
- Selling
- Sheldwich
- Stalisfield
- Teynham
- Throwley
- Tonge
- Tunstall
- Warden
Swale is also the name of a river in North Yorkshire.